Australia and New Zealand will meet in cricket’s first day-night Test match later this year.Starting on 27 November, the final Test of their three-match series will be under lights in Adelaide, with a pink ball and both teams wearing whites.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said he hoped the idea would increase interest in the game.
The New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association said its members were “nervous” about the experiment.
NZCPA chief executive Heath Mills indicated concerns about the difficulties of playing Test cricket under varying light and of dealing with the pink ball.
He said: “It’s uncharted territory and because of that there will be uncertainty and apprehension.”
Mills added that, despite their reservations, the players could see the “greater good it brings to all levels of the game”.
The pink ball is designed to be visible under floodlights, while still allowing players to wear traditional whites.
Cricket Australia has carried out tests during domestic competitions in an attempt to allay concerns that the ball behaves differently to its red equivalent.
New Zealand Cricket agreed to the day-night match as part of a lucrative financial package secured by arranging their first Test series against Australia since 2011.
Sutherland said: “One of the global challenges with Test cricket is that most of the matches outside holiday periods are played on weekdays, in the middle of the day when people are at work and kids are at school.
“By shifting the playing times, each day’s play can go into the evening and allow people to come in after work or after school to attend the last few hours of play.”
He added it would also allow people “in other parts of the world or other parts of the country” to watch more television coverage of the match.
As part of the break with tradition, the intervals between sessions – traditionally lunch and tea – will be renamed tea and dinner.
